


you and i and you and i.

by MetaAllu



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Reality, Alternate Universe, Galra Shiro (Voltron), M/M, Multiverse, Pining, Reality Hopping, Rescue Missions, Sexual Tension, alternate shiro - Freeform, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-25
Updated: 2019-02-25
Packaged: 2019-11-05 13:47:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17919974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MetaAllu/pseuds/MetaAllu
Summary: They’d seen for themselves that the theory of multiple realities was true, but it was one thing to see another human version of himself; it was an entirely different thing to see himself as a tall, purple-skinned Galra.  He’s watching them both, two humans from another version of reality, a curious expression on his face, and then he takes a deep breath in and says “Hm. Okay. Didn’t see that one coming.”





	you and i and you and i.

**Author's Note:**

> for @[Una_Nato](https://twitter.com/una_nato) on twitter.

They’d seen for themselves that the theory of multiple realities was true, but it was one thing to see another human version of himself; it was an entirely different thing to see himself as a tall, purple-skinned Galra.  He’s watching them both, two humans from another version of reality, a curious expression on his face, and then he takes a deep breath in and says “Hm. Okay. Didn’t see that one coming.”

*

They’re sitting around a table: Allura, Coran, Pidge, Hunk, Lance, Keith, Shiro, and… Other Shiro.  They’ve been sitting there for the better part of a minute, and no one has managed to say a word yet.

“So, this is weird,” Lance says at last, breaking the silence without making it any less awkward.  That seems about right. It’s one of Lance’s special talents.

“Super weird,” Hunk agrees.

Pidge pushes up their glasses and leans in, expression openly fascinated.  “You know,” they say. “I understood in theory that there were infinite versions of reality, and that there would be versions of reality where we were the same people without being the same species; but it’s a whole other thing to… see it.”

They appraise the Galra Shiro, somehow even taller and broader than their Shiro, and apparently, less likely to fluster.  He offers Pidge a warm smile. “Well, I’m glad to see some things don’t change,” he tells them, and they bark out a cackling laugh.

Allura, whose acceptance of Keith alone had been a feat in of itself, and her acceptance of the Blades of Marmora almost equally so, is looking at the Galra Shiro with clear discomfort.  She’s a diplomat, and she’s trying to hide it, but anyone who knows her can read her expression, and apparently, the other Shiro knows her, because he says “Don’t worry, princess. I’m a Blade, same as--” he falters.  “Keith?” Keith nods. “Same as Keith.”

She startles, but she still looks at him with obvious distrust.  “And we are simply supposed to believe you?”

“Of course not,” Shiro answers, with the same grace as their own.  He reaches for his belt, then pauses. “I’m going to show you my blade.  I’m not going to attack. Please, don’t be alarmed.”

 

The princess nods her tentative assent, and the Galra withdraws the blade.  It takes Keith a second to recognize it.

“That’s--” he starts and Shiro looks at him in surprise.

“You know it?”

“It’s my mother’s.”

The rest of team Voltron stares between then two Galra, and then the Galra Shiro says, “Yes.  It is.”

“Why do you have that?” Keith asks, narrowing his eyes.  “How did you even end up as a Blade?”

“The same way as you.  I was born into it,” Shiro says with a shrug.  “Born into the war. Born into the Blades.” No one bothers to tell him that their Keith wasn’t born into anything.  Shiro is still looking at Keith. He smiles. “It’s good to see you again. You’re different here.”

“Different,” Shiro repeats.  “Different how?”

His Galra counterpart turns to him, and then he tilts his head.  “Better,” he says. “Happier.”

“Well,” Lance chimes in, the other Paladins all but forgotten.  “That was cryptic.”

“Never mind that,” Allura cuts in.  “You didn’t answer Keith’s other question.  Why do you have that blade? And how are you here?” There is still suspicion in her tone.

“Keith gave it to me,” Shiro explains.  “My Keith. For safekeeping when he was taken.  The Blades found secret schematics for a device to travel through dimensions, and I was tasked to find you.  To find Keith.”

The human Shiro is immediately tense.

“What do you want with him?”

“We need your help,” the Galra Shiro explains, and his tone goes desperate.  “We need a Red Lion so we can form Voltron and rescue Keith. We need Keith. Please.”

Shiro is on his feet in seconds, physically putting himself between Keith and his other self.

“ _No_.”

Hunk pipes up with a “That’s nuts.  Am I the only one who thinks that’s nuts?” and Lance scoffs with a loud “As _if_.”

“I’ll go,” Keith says, speaking louder to be heard over the various protests.

“Keith--” Shiro starts, but Keith cuts him off, a fierce look in his eyes.

“I’m going.  You would do it if our positions were reversed.” And Shiro can’t argue that, so he just looks at Keith, eyes full of dismay and concern, and he nods, moving out of the way.

“Thank you,” says the other-dimensional Shiro.  “I promise to bring him back safe and sound.”

The _you’d better_ from the other Paladins goes unspoken, but it hangs heavy in the air.

*

The return is painless and simple.  One second he’s in one dimension, the next he’s in another.  They make their way back to the main Blade base. Kolivan is there, and apparently Kolivan is the same, because he stares Keith down, and then offers him a small smile and a simple nod.

Keith nods back.

They all sit down together, then, debrief on the situation, and then the plan.  They’re putting pieces in place to retrieve this reality’s Keith a week from now.  Until then, Keith doesn’t have anything to do but hang out.

They give him a room next to Shiro’s, and for three days nothing happens.  Then, Shiro gets sent on a minor mission, and Keith is all alone on the base with familiar faces that are only more alienating in their small differences.  The other Blades seem to feel the same way about him. One of them keeps staring at his ears. Maybe they’re different here. That’s all he can figure.

He spends the day sparring, anyway, taking on anyone who will go with him until the first tap.  He burns through sparring partners recklessly, a few of them chuckling amongst themselves Some things, he supposes, are the same no matter what reality.

By the time dinner comes around, he’s exhausted and sweaty, so he takes a quick rinse in the showers just to get most of the smell off.  He’s sure the other Galra can still smell him, but he’s also sure they don’t care. Blade bases always smell like exertion and sex. It’s a very high-tension environment, and Galra honestly just don’t have the same hangups as humans.  They have their own, different hangups. Like not shaking hands with strangers or making too much small talk; all things that suit Keith just fine. He’s never admitted it to anyone, but he’s always felt more at home with Galra than with humans.  Being back with Voltron is amazing, he loves his family, but he misses the Blades dearly.

Still, it’s weird without Shiro there with him, so when he’s sitting in the canteen and Shiro strides in with a fresh set of bandages and an irritated look, he perks up and waves.  The Galra’s eyes hone in on him and he strides over in a few wide steps. Then he sits himself down beside Keith and tucks into his neck.

Keith laughs.  “Uh, missed you, too, big guy.”

It’s awkward.  He supposes it makes sense in it’s own way.  Shiro knows his own Keith in a Galra way, which means physical contact and pack marking is probably on-brand.  He only feels more sure when Shiro starts rubbing his cheek against him, the soft fur pushing along his skin, spreading the unique scent of Shiro on his skin.

“Mmf,” he mumbles, lets it happen because Shiro looks tired and lost, and he probably feel that way, too.  Keith can remember how empty he’d felt when he’d lost Shiro. How full he’d felt when he got him back, even if it had turned out to be someone else entirely.

“Okay,” he says after a bit more rubbing.  “Okay! You’re going to bed. You’re dead on your feet, and I wasn’t even that hungry.”

Shiro purrs in contented agreement, and as ridiculous as it feels, Keith helps haul him to his feet, helps him to his room, and then even opens the door for him (he tries not to think too hard about the fact that his handprint unlocks the door).

It slides shut behind them, and Keith’s about to nudge Shiro towards his bed when he’s scooped up and pressed back against the door.  Shiro crowds into his space, purring louder now, and presses his mouth to Keith’s throat. For a fearful second, Keith thinks he means to bite into his scent gland and claim him, but instead he tongues at it, presses kisses to it, sucks on it until Keith’s scent starts to fill the room.

“Ah… sh-- _Shiro_ ,” he manages, and then he moans, because Shiro is kissing lower, hungry for him. Keith has no idea what’s happening.

“We… what are you _doing_?”

Shiro looks up at him, eyes dark and desperate.

“It’s not really cheating, right?” he whispers.  “You’re still him, and I’m still yours. Please, I’m so--” He inhales, tucks his face back in, and his huge hands are squeezing Keith’s ass, kneading it in a way that’s driving him crazy.  It hits Keith like a truck that this Shiro has touched him this way before, that they’re _together_ \-- Holy shit.

“Y-you’re dating me?” he wheezes, and the surprise must be evident in his voice, because Shiro pauses in the middle of pulling his suit off of him.

“We’re married,” says Shiro. Keith stares, mouth falling open.  “You’re… not married?” He sets Keith down, looking alarmed. “Oh no.  I’m so sorry. Are you only dating?”

“Only d--” Keith splutters.  “I didn’t even know you like me until just now!”

“Oh,” Shiro says, and then his eyes go wide as dinner plates.  “ _Oh_.”

“I… guess the whole Galra thing…” Keith starts.

“Right.  Yeah. It was pretty hard to avoid,” Shiro agrees.

“Believe me, you’ve been doing nothing _but_ avoid.  I told you I loved you.”

“And… I did nothing about this?”

“Nope.”

Galra Shiro stares at him.

“Well,” he says, at last.  “This is awkward. So, uh, the mission is in a few days…”

*

They don’t talk about it.

They ignore it, ignore each other, for the most part, until it becomes inevitable, until he meets his counterparts, and they look at him in surprised awe.  It should be hard, maybe impossible, to form Voltron with people he’s technically only just met, but they launch themselves into space, hurtling towards the base where this reality’s Keith is being held captive, and they come together as smoothly as always.  It’s the first thing about this reality that’s felt easy.

He falls easily into the role of following Shiro’s orders.  The chatter in his ear from the other Paladins is identical to what he’s used to hearing: running commentary, technobabble, alarmed shouting.

They use Voltron to take out the base’s main lines of defence, and then they split off again to move into the breach phase of their plan.

It takes an antsy few minutes of radio silence for Pidge to take down the base’s power, and then Hunk blasts them a hole to get inside.  The base is eerily quiet inside, with only a smattering of sentries, all of which ignore them.

It feels too easy, and Keith is instantly on edge, especially once he sees… himself.  He’s sitting on the floor in a holding cell, drenched in red, blood pooling around him, leaking into his suit. They look mostly the same, although this Keith looks older, and his ears are pointed, his hair is longer.  His chest is heaving for breath, and when he hears their footsteps, he looks up, eyes gone yellow. There’s blood on his mouth, too, on his teeth.

“Keith?”

The half-human blinks a few times, and then his eyes focus on.

“Shiro,” he rasps, and then Shiro is running over, scooping up the smaller man and holding him to his chest.

“ _Keith_ .  What happened?  Why are you-- This _blood_ \--”

“Not mine,” says this reality’s Keith.  “I killed them.”

“Who?” Keith asks.

“The bastards keeping me here,” other Keith answers.  “They were planning to fire that cannon at Voltron, blow it out of the sky.  I… distracted them.” He’s nuzzling into Shiro’s throat, growling softly, but he pauses.  “Who the fuck are you?”

“Long story.”

*

The journey back to the Marmora base is awkward.  For Keith. And just Keith. No one else bats an eye as this reality’s Keith and Shiro kiss, or as they rub their cheeks together, nuzzle at each other’s throats.  Shiro starts purring when his Keith starts nibbling at his throat, and Keith is pretty sure he’s never blushed so hard in his entire life.

There is comm silence from the black lion the entire way back, and it’s clear from her flight pattern that she’s on autopilot, which means…

He’s trying not to think about what it means, but it’s hard to forget the memory of Shiro’s mouth, of his tongue, and his huge hands, especially knowing that the other Keith is getting all of that right now.  That mouth is all over him, those hands are touching him, Shiro is purring and growling and fucking into him--

Keith slams his hands down onto the console in front of him, eyes wide and face red.  He needs to stop thinking about this.

“You okay, bud?” comes Hunk’s voice from the comms, and Keith realizes he’s been drifting off course. Quickly, he rejoins formation.

“Fine,” he lies.  “Just ready to go home.”

*

They send him home, and he wants everything to be the same as the way it’s always been, but he can’t look Shiro in the eye, because every time he does, he just remembers his Galra counterpart, eyes and hands hungry and all over him, and then he needs to leave the room so he can take a cold shower, standing under the spray until he’s shivering.

Obviously, Shiro notices; and normally, he’d be tactful about it, but they’re in the middle of battle drills, and Keith keeps drifting off course.

“Keith?” he says for what feels like the hundredth time. “We’re doing delta, not beta.”

“Shit.”

The black lion course corrects.  There is an awkward silence.

“Dude.  Is your brain full of mice or something?” Lance complains, tired of running drills over and over just because Keith can’t keep his head on straight.

“Shut up, Lance.”

“No, Lance is right,” Shiro answers with a frown. “Keith, if something is wrong, then--”

“They’re married!” Keith blurts out.

Another silence.

“Who’s married?” Shiro asks calmly.

“You and me.  The-- the other.  You and me.”

Silence falls over the Atlas bridge, as well as the comms. The MFEs, the other Paladins, and everyone on the bridge have been silenced by the sudden confession.  Moreso by what it means that it’s been distracting the Voltron leader.

“Oh,” Shiro says, finally. “Uh, that’s…”

He doesn’t know what to say next.

“Just get married already!” Veronica bursts out from her station after a sustained silence. “You two are wild about each other and everyone knows it! Please! I’m so tired of watching you two idiots pine! Just do it!”

Shiro chokes.

“Oh my god,” comes Griffin’s voice.

“ _Nice_ , Ronnie!” Lance crows.

“Oh my,,” says Allura.

Kinkade is just laughing.

“Wow!  No!” Keith says once everyone has quieted down, and Shiro’s heart drops into his stomach. Then, he says, “Take me to dinner first, Shiro,” and in a moment of great stupidity, Shiro replies, “Ok.”

More silence.

“Ok?” Keith repeats.

“Yeah,” Shiro answers, feeling a little breathless and a lot light-headed. “As soon as this is over and we’re back on earth, I will take you to dinner.”

“Oh.” Keith is smiling. “I, uh.  I look forward to it.”

“Me, too.”

**Author's Note:**

> come play with me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/fishgrayson).


End file.
